Public Works Project Awarded- Jessica Witte

PUBLIC WORKS PROJECT AWARDEDJESSICA WITTE WILL CREATE SEED THE CHANGE AS INAUGURAL PROJECT

Collaborative seed drawing with crew of six over two days on Schmidt Art Center patio. Belleville, IL.

Critical Mass for the Visual Arts is pleased to announce that Jessica Witte and her project Seed the Change were selected for the inaugural Public Works Project, a temporary public art initiative.

Seed the Change will be a weekend-long collaborative drawing event along the St. Louis Riverfront, tentatively scheduled for June 3-5. Using black sunflower seeds and millet, an unforgettable “seed drawing” will be made on the sidewalk along Lenore K. Sullivan Boulevard, centering on the arch and extending hundreds of feet north and south. The underlying design, based on Missouri native wildflowers, will be outlined by Witte and her assistants on Friday. Viewers will then be invited to add to and manipulate the drawing throughout the weekend. The drawing will morph with the engagement of the audience, growing and changing. Time-lapse photography will record the changing form of the drawing over its lifespan. According to Witte, “the temporal nature of the project reveals that everything is subject to change and we must embrace the present moment to shape change.”

Witte’s hope for Seed the Change is that it will “highlight the city’s human potential; creating a welcoming space shaped by its people that embodies the beauty of labors of love, conversation, and individual expression.” To emphasize the actual physical work of making our city a more inviting place, Witte and Critical Mass will feature organizations during the event who share the mission to improve the city. Activities at tables and tents along the Riverfront will highlight these groups’ work, while creating a festival atmosphere and sparking discussion on how others can shape our city. At the end of the event Sunday, the 4000 lbs. of seed will be donated to the World Bird Sanctuary.

Critical Mass launched The Public Works Project to provide St. Louis area artists with an opportunity to develop a work of art for the public realm. Unlike other public art opportunities in the region, the artwork proposed had to be temporary and could be at a site of the artist’s choosing, allowing artists to match their artistic ideas with the siting of the work.

Jessica Witte is a nationally-exhibited, award-winning artist. Her multi-media work has been in over fifty exhibitions at venues such as the San Diego Art Institute, the Textile Center (Minneapolis, MN), Museum of Nebraska Art (Kearney, NE), Rockford Art Museum (Rockford, IL), Maas Gallery (Purchase, NY), Good Citizen Gallery (St. Louis, MO), Athens Institute of Contemporary Art (Athens, GA), WomanMade Gallery and Beverly Art Center (both Chicago, IL). Her Birdseed Doilies Project has spanned a decade and been featured in the online Chicago Art Magazine and Stylus, a London-based, international news service. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, she worked as a teacher, gallery director, and art museum staffer in northern Illinois before moving to St. Louis.